Paths to a professorship – Approaches from Art and Design

With the two-day event ‘Paths to a Professorship’ (Wege zur Professur), the HfG Offenbach’s PhD department, in cooperation with the HfG’s Women Professors Programme, invites interested parties to discuss the topic of academic career planning with or without doing a PhD. On the first day there will be an evening event (keynote speech by the German University Association followed by impulses speeches and a panel discussion with experts on the topic of doctorates) and on the second day there will be individual PhD coaching sessions with invited professors from the fields of art and design.

The event begins on 7 October (17-19h) with a keynote speech on academic career planning and two further keynote speeches on doctorates in “creative disciplines” (art, design). This will be followed by an open panel discussion with Prof. Dr Axel Vogelsang (HSLU Lucerne) and Prof. Dr Hanne Loreck (HfbK Hamburg). This part of the event is aimed at doctoral students as well as artistic and academic staff within and outside the HfG. On the second day, 8th of October, Loreck and Vogelsang will hold individual consultations with interested doctoral candidates at the HfG, addressing their individual doctoral topics and questions.

In his keynote speech on day 1, Axel Vogelsang will address the topic ‘Practice-inspired, practice-based, practice-led or simply practice research? The role of design in design doctorates’. Vogelsang is a research lecturer at the Lucerne School of Art and Design and head of the Visual Narrative research group, which focusses on contemporary visual practices in linear and non-linear media. He is interested in processes and contexts of creation as well as questions of the reception of these media and their content, whereby most projects are characterised by a close connection between creative practice and theory formation. He began his professional life by training as a typesetter and then worked as a graphic and interface designer before completing an MA in Communication Design and a PhD in Design at the University of the Arts London (Central Saint Martins College).

Hanne Loreck, Prof. Dr. phil., studied Visual Communication, Art Studies, Philosophy and German Studies and has been Professor of Art and Cultural Studies, Gender Studies at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg since 2004, where she was Vice President from 2006 to 2019. She is co-initiator of the artistic-theoretical doctorate, which was introduced at the HFBK in 2008. Founding member of the Society for Artistic Research in Germany. She publishes on current art positions, 20th century art and media history, fashion phenomena and cultural theory with a focus on questions of corporeality, visibility, imagery and surfaces. On the occasion of the symposium of the same name, the digital publication Archive des Körpers - Der Körper in Archivierung / Archives of the Body-The Body in Archiving (together with Vanessa Gravenor) was published in April 2024. Camouflage. On the Art and Cultural History of Camouflage will be published shortly.

In her keynote speech on day 1, Loreck will ask: “Why do a doctorate in the arts? Individual reasons - institutional requirements”. The introducing lecture on acadmic career paths will be held by Laurentius Oles, Legal Counsel at the German University Association.

The event is organised by Prof. Dr. Tom Bieling and Riccarda Weih from the Doctoral Committee, together with Dr. Helena Schmedt and Dr. Ellen Wagner from the Professorial Programme (HfG).

Images: Hanne Loreck (above), Axel Vogelsang (below).

Information event for doctoral candidates, artistic and research assistants. Other interested parties are also welcome!

Impulses and Panel Discussion (in german):

16:30 Start

16:45 Laurentius Oles, Justitiar im Deutschen Hochschulverband

17:30 Impulsvortrag Prof. Dr. Hanne Loreck, HFBK »Warum in den Künsten promovieren? Individuelle Gründe – institutionelle Anforderungen«

17:50 Impulsvortrag Prof. Dr. Axel Vogelsang, HS Luzern, »Practice-inspired, practice-based, practice-led oder einfach nur practice research? Zur Rolle der Gestaltung in Design Promotionen«

— Break —

18:30 – ca. 20:00 Panel Discussion

The evening ends with a get-together in the ‘Right Chapel’ (Isenburger Schloss).

PhD students can also register for individual coaching sessions on their PhD topics with Hanne Loreck or Axel Vogelsang on 8 October (Email to promovieren@hfg-offenbach.de).